P96 and Fast ZII mode

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi,

    I've been trying to get my DCE Cybervision 64/3D to work with fast Z-II mode on my ZIV busboard but I've had no luck. I know the Buddha requires a rom switch but I can find no such requirement on the CV3D. I've tried installing P96 and using Cybergraphx instead but I havn't even managed to set it up properly yet :P

    Does P96 support this or is it simply up to the hardware to cumminucate this function? Should the CV3D and ZIV busboard just handle this on their own?

  • Fast-Z2 is a pure hardware thing, and I have no idea if the Cybervision even supports that weird mode. You'll need to get in touch with the original developers or other owners of a DCE-made Cybervision to get that information. Unfortunately, Thomas Dellert, who touched up the P5 designs for DCE production, passed away a few years ago, so we can't ask him any more.

  • Thanks for the reply, Jens! Sad to hear of Dellert's passing. I've contacted DCE, but I don't know if that is even the samy company any more. :P
    All amiga hardware databases report that the DCE-version (with the red jumper wire) supports fast Z-II, but I've not communicated with anyone who has actually run their CV3D in fast-ZII. The search continues I guess.


    By the way, the speed bump with Buddha in fast ZII was a nice surprise! Thank you for supporting "that wierd mode" ;)

  • Thank you for supporting "that wierd mode"

    Just as an explanation why I'm calling it "wierd": The card needs to get on the bus before the address strobe signal actually says "the address is valid", so it's not exactly a clean solution. However, the Z4 boards were already in the field when I commented to the original developer that I don't have any indicator for a valid address then, and he was not willing to make a change - the idea of having all boards in the field identical definitely also is a good thing.


    Having two fast-Z2 cards installed might actually trigger the first bug(s) due to the shortcoming of this requirement. Please report back if you found out how to activate the mode on your Cybervision.

  • That's interesting! My Buddha usually lives in my A2000, so it was brought over to the A1200 for testing only. It is back where it belongs now so while I now understand that two cards might cause issues I'm thankfully not having to deal with those potential problems :P


    I will write a full report with speed comparisons etc. if I can get this combination to work, but I really have very little to go on. Elbox got back to me very quickly and said that they've never tried the busboard with a CV3D and didn't know if CV3D supported fastZII. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone at DCE can at least point me in the right direction, but I'm not holding my breath :P

  • Elbox

    ...are not the developers of this board - ACT Elektronik GmbH was the Company, and the developer's name is Steffen Christ.


    DCE is still the same company, but I fear that the only person who is still working for them since the Amiga days does not know anything about the internal details. However, Steffen Christ and Thomas Dellert were in regular contact back in the days. Although he normally doesn't want to hear any questions about "old Amiga stuff", I can try if you don't get any more info from other forums (such as EAB or a1k.org) by the end of the week.

  • Although he normally doesn't want to hear any questions about "old Amiga stuff", I can try if you don't get any more info from other forums (such as EAB or a1k.org) by the end of the week.

    Thanks, thats very nice of you! I'll post to a1k.org now, I forgot about that one! I'll report back here as soon as I hear something, if I do. :P

  • I've not gotten anywhere in my search for answers on this subject. I think I've covered most of the (non-localized) forums now.

    It really is very strange. All amiga hardware sources I've found mention the DCE version as supporting fast-ZII but I've not managed to find a single person who has run this setup.. I've not found a manual specifically for the DCE variant either. Mine came with a printed manual but that made no mention of DCE or MK-II so It might have been the Phase5-manual (which is easily found online).

  • His answer was not very encouraging, as he still remembers that I was the only person who ever got the information on how to handle Fast-Z2. Even Elbox only have the information about the 32-bit expansion port, but not the Fast-Z2 documentation. This documentation is very short, but he knows for sure that Thomas never even asked for it, so we cannot explain where the rumor about the CV64/3D supporting Fast-Z2 originates from.


    Should it really support Fast-Z2, there must be a jumper or a (so far) undocumented register that needs to be set in order to activate the mode. Without the source code to the logic chips, I don't see a possibility to help you here.

  • Thank you Jens! Allthought a little discouraging it certainly is informative! I guess I should contact the hardware databases and inform them of this, as I really don't see how the cards can be claimed to support fast-ZII if there is no (documented) way to activate that mode.


    Well, I guess thats the end of my search for a fast-ZII RTG solution. Thank you for all the help! :)

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.